News broke on Monday morning that the Minnesota Timberwolves have extended Chris Finch to a multi-year deal. The rest of his coaching staff are also getting extensions, but the terms of the extensions have not been revealed. It’s amazing news for fans and the organization.
Finch has had an incredible season as a coach. He’s made many evident improvements. Since Gersson Rosas signed Finch in an unorthodox way mid-season last year, the team has begun to look like it has direction. While injuries to both D’Angelo Russell and Karl-Anthony Towns contributed to the lack of success under Ryan Saunders, having an experienced coach has clearly helped the Wolves change their fortune.
The Wolves only won 23 games last season. They doubled that with 46 wins this year, earning themselves the 7-seed and home-court advantage in the play-in tournament. Minnesota ended the season only three games behind the fifth seed Utah Jazz and only two games behind the sixth seed Denver Nuggets. They probably could have passed Denver if not for Nikola Jokic having one of the most dominant seasons in NBA history.
Finch’s defensive changes have been most visible. The Wolves primarily played drop coverage under Saunders, making Towns hang around the paint as a rim protector. In contrast, Finch has installed a more aggressive defense this season that encourages players to shoot passing lanes and attempt to force turnovers. It has also allowed KAT to step out of the drop defense and use his quickness to occasionally guard players on the perimeter, making KAT a much more versatile defender this season. These changes have greatly improved the defense.
Last year, the Wolves had a defensive rating of 115 and were 28th in the league in that category. This year, it jumped up to 11.7 under Finch, putting them at 13th in the league. The Wolves also lead the league in opponent turnovers per game and rank 3rd in steals and blocks per game.
Not only does the defensive scheme create stops and annoy opponents, but it also contributes to the way the Wolves score. Minnesota also leads the league in points of turnovers per game at 19.8. Even when they don’t score off turnovers, they are using the opportunity to quickly push the ball up the court and force opponents to run. They lead the league in PACE at 101.47.
Finch has also gotten the team to move the ball more and play as a unit on offense. At the beginning of the season, there were a lot of key points in games where the offense would become stagnant in the half-court before everyone got adjusted to playing together. Instead of passing the ball around to find an open shot, the Wolves would often turn to one of their big three to isolate and get them a tough bucket by themselves. While isolation play is inevitable at times and is one of Edwards’s strongest suits, you don’t want to rely on it all the time. It puts a lot of pressure on an individual player to run the offense rather than spreading out the load with quick passes that often get open looks.
However, once the team developed chemistry, they became a force to be reckoned with on offense. The Wolves scored the most points per game of any team in the NBA this season at 115.9 and had the 7th best offensive rating in the league at 113.8.
A lot of credit for the team’s success also goes to the internal improvement of Towns, Edwards, and Russell. They bought into Finch’s strategies and learned how to mesh as a defensive unit. Additionally, almost every player on Minnesota’s bench has found something new and exciting about their game that helps them contribute to winning. Part of that comes from the coaching staff empowering them to do so.
- Taurean Prince has been empowered to be a veteran leader and creator off the bench.
- Jaden McDaniels has been allowed to dribble-penetrate and use his long frame to get layups around a crowd of defenders.
- Jordan McLaughlin has been encouraged to jump passing lanes and take threes confidently.
The list goes on. From Jaylen Nowell‘s breakout as a consistent bench bucket-getter to the one-night Greg Monroe show in Boston. Everyone on the team has shown significant growth throughout the season, excluding Josh Okogie and Jake Layman, who unfortunately fell out of the rotation this year. Credit to the players for working hard in the offseason and in practice to get better. But the sheer number of players who have found a niche in the Wolves rotation is a credit to the coaching staff. They have steered players to improve at skills the team needs and will get them more playing time. It’s also a credit to the coaching staff that they’ve been able to find legitimate rotation minutes for so many different players even when the team is fully healthy.
Minnesota’s success has garnered Finch respect across the league and has landed him mentions from media members as one of six coaches on a shortlist to be considered for Coach of the Year this year. He likely won’t win as there are some serious heavyweights in the category. Monty Williams has had his second incredibly successful NBA season in a row, and the Phoenix Suns ended the season with the best record in the NBA. Taylor Jenkins has also made himself a favorite by bringing the Memphis Grizzlies from the play-in game last year to the 2-seed this year.
Regardless, it’s a relief that the Wolves finally have a good coach again and have locked him up long-term. Stability is an important part of any team, and Finch has shown that he can and will help the team grow into a true playoff contender every year.
